Mouth of Oya River. Bunty in bathing costume. Fishing for prawns and small fish. Chinese launch comes into the Oya River. Start of the road to Mukkah. Fish nets drying.

People waiting for the fishing boats (barongs) which arrive under sail or by motor. Some boats have handed the fish over to the traders out at sea. 

The tillian River in the swamp not far from the mouth of the Mukah River and the Melanau Kampong Tillian. 

Man bringing sago logs home from the swamp. The sago is worked by the women and the pith is discarded into the river. 

In Sarawak, ducks can breed at any time of the year but the Tillian River ducks have learnt only to breed in the rainy season as when the river is low the pith-polluted river kills the ducklings though the grown birds can survive in it!

About Ian Urquhart

Ian Urquhart was a decorated British soldier, posted to Sarawak, where he served from 1947 to 1965. A brilliant linguist with an abiding interest in learning about other people and their cultures, he was a natural fit to be a civil service officer.

In addition to his administrative duties, he studied the indigenous communities he encountered focusing on their varied languages. From 1951 to 1959, Ian published several articles published by the Sarawak Museum Journal.

It was during this period that he conducted many trips into the jungles of Sarawak, in particular the Kelabit highlands and the Ulu Baram. From 1957 his wife Bunty accompanied him and contributed to some of the filming. 

It was these trips that he documented on Silent Standard/Regular 8mm colour and b/w cinefilm leaving his family and the people of Sarawak with not only a detailed account of his life there, he annotated all 30 reels, 23 of which are available in this collection.